Rival Watch

Southampton 0 - 2 Liverpool. Puts Liverpool right in the thick of things.

3. Arsenal - Pl 26 48
4. Man Utd - Pl 26 47
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5. Southampton - Pl 26 46
6. Liverpool - Pl 26 45
7. Spurs - Pl 26 44

Next week's fixtures:

Arsenal vs Everton
Liverpool vs Man City
Man United vs Sunderland
West Brom vs Southampton

Spurs play in the COC final against Chelsea, so a chance to open up a seven point lead on them.

We should have 3-4 pts lead before we face them!

Was looking at our fixtures last night

We don't have many tricky away fixtures apart from United away which is a defeat anyways(although that's the 2nd last match of the season so we can maybe secure top 4 by then)

Liverpool home and Chelsea home will be the most difficult games.

But then we could lose to West ham at home.

Sina wrote:

We should have 3-4 pts lead before we face them!

Looking at the last couple of months you'd have to be worried if you were a Utd fan surely they got some really tough games.

I don't think they'll do it you know... top 4.

I dont think anyone can say 'team X (from the ones who are there) wont finish in top 4' because
Liverpool will Europa League on every Thursday, well in case we keep on going.

Arsenal for sure will go to quarters so they will be physically a little stretched.

Spurs, the same story as Liverpool with Europa League.

ManUtd are tactically mess and they have too many problems. The one thing they seem to have has LVG mentality which is carrying them right now.

I disagree I think Van Gaal is making mistakes in team selection Rooney in Midfield,  playing under performing Falcao and Da maria running RVP into the ground. I don't rate him personally and can't see him pulling them back to the Ferguson days whatsoever if anything his holding back a little I mean when was the last away win in the League for Utd.?

Yes Liverpool have European competitions but sometimes the more a team plays the more consistent they become and lately Liverpool have been excellent if both teams should be in the same form they are now come the 22nd of March Liverpool will tear Utd apart at Anfield.

I know what you saying tho. Yes it's to early to judge but something tells me it's just not working for Utd a season to early if you will.

Also loving your confidence how Arsenal will be in the Q/F of the CL.

United have problems but have been in the habit of winning despite those problems, so there's no way we can rule them out at this stage.

I think Europe has to be a factor to consider. Liverpool last season proved how having a week to rest and prepare for games can be a big help in the latter stages of the season.

I follow Sevilla and last season they had a game against Athletic Bilbao who were 4th at the time in between a Europa League semi-final; Sevilla could have gone fourth had they beat Athletic, but chose to prioritise the cup instead and fielded a weakened side. When you consider that winning the Europa League will give you a CL place, it'll be very difficult for Spurs or Liverpool to prioritise the league if they reach the semi-finals.

For us, if we reach the quarter-finals we're either going to get a top side, which will be two intense games to schedule, or Basel/Porto, which would be very winnable games that deserve our full attention. So either way we're going to have to use our squad. There's the FA Cup, too, which means one or two extra mid-week games.

So this last 12 games aren't going to be straight-forward for anyone, regardless of who they're playing.

A great weekend for us and Liverpool.

SamuelJayC wrote:A great weekend for us and Liverpool.

I hope it continues, after the little collapse in the start, it seems unreal that form wise we are at the top

Same thing happened with Pool last season, I said it then, their fixtures favored them and they would decide the title. I didn't think they would go as far as to win it themselves (clearly, I was nearly proven wrong) but without European distractions they were close.

we have beaten Spurs, Southampton and West Ham who were above us at the time of playing. That is agood thing. But we still have ManCity, Arsenal, ManUtd and Chlesea who are above us right now. We really need a consistent performance in case we are going to make top 4. I think 6 points from those will be great and 7 will be a miracle, considering on paper all have better squads than us.

Updated:
_____________________________________________________________________
CHELSEA 1st 60pts 34GD
Home (6) : Everton, Burnley, Southampton, Stoke City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Sunderland
Away (6)  : Leicester City, West Ham United, Hull City, Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion

=> I think it is safe to say that they have the title wrapped up. At the very least, they have one hand on the title already. And a League Cup to add to that.
_____________________________________________________________________
MAN CITY 2nd 55 pts 30GD
Home (6)  : Newcastle, Leicester, West Bromwich, West Ham, Aston Villa, Queens Park Rangers, Southampton
Away (5) : Stoke City, Liverpool, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City

=> No tough home games really. Lost to Liverpool away. Trips to United and Spuds. Not in the peachiest of forms right now. Definitely slipped up in the title race.
_____________________________________________________________________
MAN UTD 4th 50pts 20GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (6)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

=> Last home game against Arsenal would be a 6 pointer in all likelihood. Lost to Swans, won against Sunderland. Two huge away games left. Playing shitty football and LVG looks Moyesesque, but still we are almost definitely losing twice at OT - FA Cup and League.
_____________________________________________________________________
LIVERPOOL 5th 48pts 10GD
Home (5) : Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Burnley, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace
Away (6) : Southampton, Swansea City, Arsenal, Hull, West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea, Stoke City

=> What form they are in - and a well managed death run. Continue an upward climb and a fair shout to finish as high as third, if not second, if they keep it going. Still have a few big games though, but no non-league distractions any more.
_____________________________________________________________________
SOTON 6th 46pts 18GD
Home (5) : West Ham, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Hull, Tottenham, Aston Villa
Away (6)  : West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea, Everton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Leicester,  Manchester City

=> Still a good shout for Europa League, but definitely falling short of CL footie after those two losses. Two huge away games could change things up the table - so still a crucial role in the overall scheme of things.
_____________________________________________________________________
SCUM 7th 44pts
Home (5) : West Ham, Swansea, Leicester, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Hull City
Away (7)  : Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers,  Manchester United, Burnley, Newcastle United, Southampton, Stoke City, Everton

=> Hope they get ripped apart away from home. That's not too hard otherwise. Loss at Anfield, put them in their place. Still waiting for the DVD of being above us for 3 days.
Drew to WHU; lost league cup.

Crazy how well Liverpool seems to manage the big games as of last season.

Liverpool Fixture List :
Manchester United (H)
Arsenal (A)
Chelsea (A)

Arsenal Fixture List :
Manchester United (A)
Liverpool (H)
Chelsea (H)

we will now have almost similar fixture list
But Arsenal still has little more favourable list compared to Liverpool. Considering that Arsenal will for sure finish in top 4, I would ideally want you guys to beat ManUtd in the EPL Fixture. If Wenga chooses to lose one of the two OT fixtures, better lose the FA Cup one It would be nice if we see the same last four as last year

I prefer we lose neither

Must get a result in the PL, could aim for a draw to get a replay at the Emirates in the FA Cup.

I wouldn't want to face Arsenal at Wembley in the SF or the finals, I hope you guys lose to United in the cup.

That said, I want Arsenal and Liverpool to finish in the top 4.

Nishy wrote:I wouldn't want to face Arsenal at Wembley in the SF or the finals, I hope you guys lose to United in the cup.

That said, I want Arsenal and Liverpool to finish in the top 4.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

Nishy wrote:I wouldn't want to face Liverpool at Wembley in the SF or the finals, I hope you guys lose to Rovers in the cup.

That said, I want Arsenal and Liverpool to finish in the top 4.

Liverpool will probably finish the season strongly as their recent form and win vs City indicates

srigooner wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

Nishy wrote:I wouldn't want to face Liverpool at Wembley in the SF or the finals, I hope you guys lose to Rovers in the cup.

That said, I want Arsenal and Liverpool to finish in the top 4.

bah gawd such a greedy pos, you already won the FA cup in last season !!

MJ wrote:Liverpool will probably finish the season strongly as their recent form and win vs City indicates

just imagine if we are able to manage the first part of the season, for the next season
I just hope we dont do unnecessary signings in the summer and stick with a similar squad we have right now.

That's a scary fact MJ, No denying that but we had proper fit WC players then.

Right now we have Lucas and Ibe out for a month and Sturridge is still finding his feet, Also the fact that we wont hit 85 goals in all competitions this season, Which shows how blunt we are in attack.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

srigooner wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

bah gawd such a greedy pos, you already won the FA cup in last season !!

You haven't been in a ten year trophy drought. And we've never won in Europe, so stfu pos

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

MJ wrote:Liverpool will probably finish the season strongly as their recent form and win vs City indicates

just imagine if we are able to manage the first part of the season, for the next season
I just hope we dont do unnecessary signings in the summer and stick with a similar squad we have right now.

So basically, Brenda is the managerial anti-thesis of Fabregas (he disappears in the second half of the season)

And bloody hell, that is even better than our experience in finishing in top 4 claim.

At 2.5 PpG, thats 95 points a season => 9 out of 10 times, that's a runaway league title.

srigooner wrote:
MAN UTD 4th 50pts 20GD
Home (5) : Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal
Away (6)  : Swansea, Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Crystal Palace, Hull City

okay, I guess you guys are craving for a Man u lad's perspective on this. So let me.

Pool away, Chelsea away thats 0 points from those 2 lol.
Spurs, Arsenal home. Hopefully 4 points.
City home 1 point.
5 points from the 5 matches. Fair enough all things taken into consideration.

Everton, Newcastle, Palace away. Thats the 3 fixtures which will decide our fate. Need to win all 3 of them. minimum 7 points. its a Herculean task considering Our wretched away away form, I know, too much to ask, but have no choice sadly. We simply cant win a game on road these days. So its already over more or less, unless and until we see some change in fortune starting with the midweek trip to Newcastle. And the worse thing is even if manage to get 9 from those 3 somehow, pool and ars have such an easy fixture that it might not turn out to be enough eventually. Could still fall much short of you guys.